The question that started everything
by sarahw119
Summary: This is the story behind the proposal,how it came about.


The Question that started everything.

It was the last day at Hogwarts and the four friends were lounging around the Gryffindor common room talking about the summer ahead and their respective summers. "so what are your plans this summer Sirius?" lupin asked his dark haired companion, "well I`m spending it at James`s again, then I was thinking of buying this bike I`ve had my eye on, not sure James` mum will let me get it though" smiling ruefully "what about you James, when are you going to ask her, or are you chickening out already?" "shut up Sirius, I`ll ask her when I`m good and ready. Besides I`ve got to find the perfect moment, I want this to be special." James replied scowling at Sirius. "James, Lily loves you just as much as you love her, how and when you ask her isn`t going to matter." lupin offered his words of comfort. "you really think so lupin? I mean girls can get pretty funny about this stuff, they want romance and all that crap!" James replied pulling a face before retreating into silent contemplation.

Their world had become a dangerous place lately, there wasn`t a day that went by that they didn`t hear of someone's disappearance or some strange murder. Could he really ask lily to marry him, knowing the dangers that surrounded them? They had been safe at hogwarts surrounded by its walls and teachers and of course by Dumbledore, but hogwarts was about to end for them, and with it the ability to play pretend, to ignore the adult responsibilities that were heading towards them all with alarming speed. He wasn`t sure, What he did know was that he loved Lily and if it came to it, He would die to protect her. "James, JAMES?" Brought out of his silent thoughts by peter`s shout "What?" The smaller boy looked slight put out at the fact that his hero had shouted at him, "I was only going to ask whether or not your parents had agreed to let us visit this summer, you don`t have to sound so annoyed!" grinning James answered him "Oh Yeah, They wrote this morning. Since Sirius practically lives with us already, he`s fine, and Lupin can visit if he wants too, not too sure about you though..." Trailing off as the others laughed at the hurt look on peter`s face. Laughing with them he turned to peter "I'm kidding, of course you can visit, to be honest mom thinks the house is too big for just the four of us, the more the merrier she said. Besides if things go to plan, you lot will have to be there, can't get married without my best mates now can I?" "yeah that's if you ever get round to asking her" Sirius smirked

At the moment lily had walked in "ask who, what Sirius?" continuing to wind James up Sirius added "James has a very important question to ask you" Throwing a book at Sirius, James flushed "Um, mum and dad wanted to know if you wanted to spend the summer with us, Sirius will be there too, unfortunately, but that can't be helped, no-one else will have him" Knowing SIrius the way he did, James knew just how far he could push the joke. Unfortunately peter didn't. "yeah, I`m surprised his parents didn't kick him out years ago." Lily, James and Lupin turned to look at peter, shocked at his words When Sirius launched himself across the table punching peter. His word accompanied by the blows he rained down on the boy " Don`t- Ever- Mention- That-Family- To- Me- Again" "James, Remus, Help me. Make him stop" Cowering on the floor as the two boys pulled Sirius to his feet, forcing him into the chair away from peter. " Leave it Sirius, you know what peter`s like, he was only trying to have a laugh" "Oh yeah, My sides are splitting." "He took it too far, as usual, but he didn`t mean any harm Sirius" Replied Sirius as he tended to peter`s bleeding nose. "So lily what do you say? Would you like to spend the summer with this lot?" "I`d love too, I need to check with my parents first though, it should be fine, they will want to see me before the wedding though." James paled at the mention of the wedding, how could she possible know, the only people he`d told were Sirius, Peter and Remus, and he knew the wouldn`t have said anything. "Wedding? What wedding" "My sisters wedding, you know the one you`re my date for! Honesty James, I don`t know what's got into you lately" She shock her head smiling fondly at him, thinking he had been very distracted lately. "Oh yeah, your sisters wedding, of course I hadn`t forgotten, I`m going to be with the best looking girl there" The other boys laughed at the look of panic that had crossed his face, Lily thankfully hadn`t noticed, she was already too busy writing the letter to her parents. "I`m going to the owlry, hopefully they will send back an answer tonight." She kissed James quickly before running out of the room to the owlry.

Chapter 2

The following morning the boys were waiting in the entrance hall for Lily, Their trunks and belongings sent ahead of them down to the hogwarts express. "where is she? Its not like Lily to skip breakfast, especially when its the last day of school" James looked around panicking slightly. "she`s over there, Lupin pointed towards the stairs as Lily walked towards them, She was holding a letter in her hand, looking distant, it was clear to the boys that she had been crying, James hurried over to her pulling her into his arms. "Lily? Sweetheart what's wrong? Has something happened?" With his arms around her, her resolve broke and she clung to him sobbing. " Lily please, What`s happened" unable to speak through the sobs that wracked her body, she pushed the letter into his hands, the boys surrounded them hiding lily from view of prying eyes as James read the letter.

Dear Lily.

We hope you are well, Firstly congratulations on your final exams, we know you will have done well, Your father and I couldn`t be more proud, You have become an amazingly talented young woman. Of course you can spend the summer with the potters, if their happy to have you, as long as you behave yourself and help out however you can. Sweetheart, I`m afraid I have some bad news, You remember the Thomas`s from next door of course. I`m sorry sweetheart but they passed away yesterday, I know that you were very good friends with Sarah, the authorities are saying it was a gas leak, because the family were together in the living room at the time. I am sorry I had to be the one to deliver this type of news sweetheart, I wish I had something better to tell you. Remember to write to us this summer. We`ll see you before the wedding sweetheart.

we love you sweetheart mum and dad.

"Lily, I`m so sorry, are you OK, silly question, of course your not OK. You don`t think it was a gas leak, do you?" Pulling her closer as he held her, stroking her hair while she cried. Slowly her tears slowed until they eventually stopped, and the five young friends made their way to the train. " it was only one house over , If they`d gone one house to the left instead, then it would have been" "lily stop it, you`ll drive yourself mad thinking about it. Your parents are fine, We won`t let anything happen to them, even if we have to move your whole family to my parents, we`ll keep them safe I promise." Sirius rested a comforting hand on her shoulder "I`m sorry about your friend lily, but James is right we will make sure your parents are safe, they will be fine." She smiled at her friends kindness, but she knew that it was a big, almost impossible promise, still she prayed they were right.

As they reached the end of the lane she turned to look back at the castle, a sad smile played on her face as she looked back at the place that had been her home for the last seven years, some many things had happened there, at Hogwarts she had discovered that she was a very talented witch, gifted if you like, here she had found herself truly happy, here she had also felt the first bitter stings of heartache, she didn`t regret a moment of it. James walked back to her, hugging her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, "I`ll miss this place too you know, I`ve had so many great years here, they`ve taught me so much, but mostly, Hogwarts brought us together and for that I will always be thankful."

Chapter 3

Hours later the train finally arrived in London, as they were leaving James spotted his parents "hey can you guys wait here a moment? I just want a quick word with my parents, I`ll be right back" with that he ran over to his parents hugging them both before explaining the situation and what had been happening lately. They listened to their son nodding before following him over to his group of friends and finally introductions were made "mum, dad this is lily" "Its a pleasure to finally meet you lily, James has spoken of nothing else in his letters. I confess my husband and I were quite eager to meet the girl who had stolen his heart." His mother pulled lily in to a hug, smiling warmly at the young girl. Lily hugged Mrs. Potter back "its a pleasure to meet you too, James speaks very highly of you both, I admit I was a little nervous of meeting you both." she smiled. "You will of course be spending the summer with us Lily?" Mr. Potter asked with a warm and friendly smile "I would love to Mr. Potter , that is if you`re happy to have me," "Lily dear, We would be more than happy to have you, if only to keep that one from moping around all summer." he replied as he indicated his son with a chuckle "Lily, James tells me that you`re worried about your parents safety. Please try not to worry too much, we will have a word with the ministry, see if there is anything that can be done for your parents protection" " thank you Mr. Potter I would really appreciate all the help we can get." Mr. Potter looked at Sirius who was flirting with a young girl, the girl looked simply thrilled, the girls parents however did not look happy "Right let`s go before Sirius starts a riot with that young lady`s parents, I don`t know how he does it sometimes." They said goodbye to remus and peter and headed to the car, much to the relief of the angry parents.

Chapter 4

Three weeks later Lily James and SIrius were waiting for Remus and Peter to arrive. "where are they, the party is going to start soon, and I`m sure James` dad said there were some veela`s coming" Sirius asked in a rather bored tone. "don`t you ever think of anything else?" laughed Lily "Of course I do, Sometimes I think about motorbikes. He replied a little defensively. "Will you two cut it out? Their here" James cut across their bickering with an annoyed tone, the two of them had been bickering since they had got back to his parents and he`d had just about enough of it now. He walked over to the two newcomers and said hello. Picking up their bags, he threw one to Sirius "Here make yourself useful and carry one of these." The five of them walked back to the house, laughing and joking with ease, filling one another in on the gossip of the last three weeks.

They arrived back at the house to find it empty. The boys dropped of their things in their respective rooms before joining the others in the living room. "James mate, I think you`re losing your touch, it`s not much of a party, Where is everyone?" Sirius asked as he found a letter on the living room table, reading it he quickly passed it to James. Reading it, he frowns "mum and dad have been called in to work, the party`s been cancelled there`s been another attack." pacing angrily around the room he kick the bin that was in his way. "stupid bloody death eaters, they ruin everything" The tension increased in the room as James vented his anger and frustration "James, come on your parents are great at their job, they`ll be OK." James turned on Sirius anger burning in his eyes "And how the hell would you know? It`s because of people like you`re brother, that my parents are out there fighting in the first place." The others in the room looked on in shock, it was lily who spoke through the deafening silence "James..." " leave it lily." Sirius replied looking just as angry as James. "That was low, even for you. You don`t think I know what my dear brother is, What he does?" "Oh you know alright, You`re just too much of a coward to do anything about it!" "That's not true James and you know it." "What I know is that your brother is a death eater, the very thing my parents are fighting against! Every time they leave the house, you don`t think I have a moment of panic, a moment where I think my parents aren`t coming back? So don`t you dare stand there telling me that they will be fine! You know nothing about it!" he shouted before storming from the room, leaving the four of them sitting there in stunned silence. Standing up lily was about to leave the room when Remus stopped her. "Just leave him a while, he`ll be back once he`s had chance to calm down"

A short while later James came back, looking at Sirius "Look Sirius, I`m sorry , I should never have said those things to you, I know none of this is your fault" Sirius held up his hands "Nothing to apologize for, I know you`re just worried about your parents, it`s fine."

Later that day James and the boys were taking a walk around the grounds of his home "Did you find a ring that you liked?" " yeah I picked it up when we where waiting for you and peter. I told Lily I was looking for something for the party and left her with Sirius." Remus smiled at him. " So have you figured out how you`re going to ask her?" Shaking his head he answered. " I have no idea, it really shouldn't`t be this hard" "James, just ask her already, It doesn`t have to be all hearts and flowers you know." interrupted Sirius, James Laughed " And that sage piece of advice comes from where? Your vast experience of marriage proposals? I just want it to be special for her, it`s been a difficult year, for all of us, something good should come out of it." "However you ask her is going to be special James because she loves you, When it comes down it all the dressing in the world isn`t going to matter." He knew he could admit his true feelings to the boys, " I guess, but what if she says no?" Sirius laughed at his friends insecurity, " James, Lily couldn`t say no to you if she tried, She gets this gooey "I love him so much" look on her face whenever you`re around, It`s quite sickening really." "shut up Sirius." James laughed pushing the other boy playfully. They fell in to a comfortable silence and soon after headed back to the house.

A little while later Mr. and Mrs. Potter arrived home, smiling at her son Mrs. potter went upstairs leaving father and son alone in the kitchen. "Everything alright dad?" "Everything`s fine James, by the time we had got there, they were long gone but everyone is OK and that's the main thing." "dad? Can I ask you something?" "Yes of course, What is it?" " How did you propose to mum?" "Ah, Still not decided how to ask Lily?" nodding "yeah, I`m really struggling with this dad!" " Well I`m not sure how much help I`ll be James, You see your mother asked me," smiling "well sort of, We were having coffee one day when your mother came out and said "When are you going to build up the courage to ask me to marry you?" well I was so shocked that I spilt my coffee all over her, so I asked her, She said yes and we were married shortly after." "That doesn't sound very romantic dad." "Well you see son, sometimes the surroundings aren`t what's important.

Chapter 5.

The following morning James had made up his mind. The boys had decided to take a walk in to town and had asked if he wanted to join them, he had said no explaining that he would like some time alone with Lily, Sensing that this was the day the three boys wished him luck and left. He had decided to let Lily sleeping this morning and set about preparing breakfast for the two of them, he had already made sure his parents had gone out so that they couldn`t interrupt this moment.

Lily walked in to the kitchen just as he was finishing breakfast, he turned to look at her, Thinking how beautiful she looked this morning. " Morning love, breakfast is almost ready, why don`t you have a seat?" Sitting down at the kitchen table she looked around "Where is everyone?" "Well mum and dad had to go in to work, to fill out the paperwork from yesterday and the boys went off in to town." "You didn`t want to go with them?" "Nah the only thing I want is right here." he replied with an easy smile, as he brought their plates over to the table. "Thanks love, but you needn`t have gone to all this trouble." "No trouble at all, there`s just one more thing before breakfast is really ready." he told her as he slid a heart shaped box towards her. "James, What is this" looking at the box smiling, thinking he`d bought he a pair of earrings. "Open it, and see." She opened the box to reveal a gold ring, holding a stone that was the color of her emerald eyes. Her breath caught for a moment in her throat, she gasped softly, her eyes filling with tears. "James, its beautiful." "I've been racking my brains for weeks, trying to make this moment as special as possible. But I realized the surroundings and decorations isn`t what matters, not really, What matters is that I love you, I can`t imagine not spending my life with you Lily. I can`t imagine coming home and not sharing my day with you, my hopes, my dreams. You`re the first person I want to talk to when something happens, but don`t tell Sirius. You are the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing I think of at night. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He walked around the table to stand next to her, taking the ring and her hand, he dropped to one knee. "I guess what I`m trying to say is that's I love you. Lily Evans will you marry me? Marry me and make my most wondrous dream come true." She sat there for a moment in silence, overwhelmed by his beautiful words, the tears of joy coursed down her fair cheeks, smiling softly. "Yes, James of course I`ll marry you. I love you so much. Nothing in the world would make me happier than becoming your wife." Pulling her into his arms, He hugged her to him spinning them both around laughing. "I love you Lily." "And I love you James."


End file.
